I have their MR55B 57" rough cut mower with the Briggs & Stratton engine. I looked at the Kohler engine, but the sales person talked me out of it, saying that the B&S engine would do me just fine and cost a lot less.
I actually picked it up at their manufacturing building. It is a small family business - the kind of business that is the foundation of America. They knew so much about their products, about the options, .... very impressive.
My first impression ... the thing is big. Pictures don't do it justice.
We recently bought property in northern Wisconsin. Our JD 3320 tractor is at home in Illinois. We didn't want to haul it back and forth, and we didn't want to buy another tractor, so instead we got an ATV and the rough cut mower.
I'm now into the second season using the mower and have to say I'm really really impressed. The engine starts very well. The height control is super easy to use. It is reasonably easy to hand pull it out of my barn and hook it up. I put a receiver hitch on the ATV and use a hitch w/o the ball on it. I tend to worry a bit whether the screw-in shackle pin (that fastens it to the hitch) will work loose and get lost. Eventually I need to buy a spare shackle - to be safe - not a big deal.
A few weeks ago we got to the property and found the field to be amazingly high - it hadn't been cut all season (easily over 20" tall - many weeds almost 4' tall). Hitting the grass at high speed would kill the engine, but if I kept the speed below 3-4 MPH it did great at full width. I think that sounds reasonable. One thing that surprised us is that after cutting you just don't see clumps. It looks pretty nice.
I think the mower is more expensive than the Swisher counterparts, but it is a tank. Built tough. In one of the first uses I accidentally ran over one of the long dog stakes. It ripped it out of the ground and cut it into a few pieces, but no damage to the mower at all - none.
Oh, when I bought it I was wondering if it was a mistake getting a mower that didn't have a remote start/stop. After two seasons I think the remote control would be more of a hassle (with the cable and attaching) than useful.
I'd buy it again in a heart beat.
Now the ATV is another story. I bought a lightly used Honda Rincon for the automatic transmission. Its a great ATV, but it doesn't have a low speed. It wants to go fast, so mowing at lower speed for several hours is kind of tough. I might have gotten a different model had I known.
One more point - the ability to mow with the mower offset is great for starting mowing since the property edges are heavy with raspberries. Mowing the edge without the offset is hard on the legs (ouch!!). All you do is disconnect the hitch arm, flip it over, and reconnect. Done. Simple.
Regarding hills, this thing should be able to take any hill that the ATV can take. They told me that they use a special battery that can survive severe angles without spilling or getting damaged. Slick.
